Well the last 48 hours have been extremely tiring, stressful, and very humbling for our family. To begin I will give some of the background of why we are where we are as a family.
On Wednesday John was running a low grade fever never exceeding higher than a 99.9, so we thought he was teething because he just wanted me to hold him. I called his doctor to make an appointment just to make sure it wasn't something more. Thursday morning came, we made our trip to the doctor but ended up noticing his soft spot was harder than usual, it was still soft. Another doctor came down to check bubba out and both doctors decided it was important to have blood work and urinalysis done to check everything. About 8:30 that night, John's doctor called and told us that she had spoken with a doctor at Children's. Both decided that it would be important for us to bring him in to just make for certain what was causing this to happen. So we got everything ready, not intending to stay forever so we just brought things that John would need.
Now for our wonderful adventure in the emergency room at Children's.
We arrived at about 10pm, Andrew parked while John and I went to check-in, and I must say John was the only non-sick child, everyone else was coughing and they just looked like they had the flu or something worse. Luckily since John wasn't sick we didn't have to go through all the triage part of the check-in, we went back told our nurses everything of that day. Then the best ER doctor came in, she actually worked down here in Weatherford for a while last winter during the ice storm, small world! She came in and check bubba out, we told our story again, and she told us what we might be doing in the way of tests. Another doctor came in, we did the same, he asked us if John had ever been diagnosed with a heart murmur (umm scary). We both said, "no" at the same time. He explained that John could of had this from birth but it was wide enough that his blood was pumping through like normal and as the hole has shrunk over time it is becoming more noticeable. The doctors ordered a CT scan which John seemed to not be bothered by it, he just looked around wondering where all the noise was coming from, it was the cutest thing. I do believe John wasn't bothered by the CT scan is the fact we have slept with an a/c unit on for his whole life pretty much and the CT scan sounds like you are in a wind tunnel. Shortly after coming back from that John was hooked up for an EKG for his heart, again he didn't seem to mind that either but he really wanted to pull the cords off the stickers so he could play with them. Then it was off to get his chest x-rayed, which he did not like at all! I think every nurse in the er came by to listen to his heart which sounded like a choo choo train not the normal lub dub. I do believe that is all the highlights of our 10 hour stay in the er. Oh, John was also voted the cutest baby in the er by all the staff members!
At about 9 the following morning we were admitted into the hospital, with the understanding that we would be out soon...well we were wrong. The nurses came in, we told our story, and waited until 2 to see the doctor (not a fun wait!). There was actually a team of doctors reviewing his case so I guess the wait was due to them trying to figure out what to do next, to see if they can confirm what is going on. At 2 we went to get his echo done on his heart, which was cool to see his heart and hear his choo-choo heartbeat. After we came back the pediatrician came in to tell us that if the cardiologist and neurosurgeon can't find anything to keep him here then we will be able to go home in the early evening. After the cardiologist reviewed his echo, he along with some students came in to see John, they all listened to his heart, and finally told us what was wrong with it, which is something called Patent Ductus Arteriosus or PDA. Sure everyone is like what in the world is that.
When a baby is still in the womb they don't use their lungs since they have the placenta. So their blood isn't pumped to the aorta. After birth the lungs take over and this hole closes up but in 10% of newborns it doesn't close up on its own or it closes slowly. In John's case it has been slowly closing which it has caused the doctors to think he has a heart murmur since the blood is going through a much smaller hole than in the first 7 months of life. In his chest x-ray we were told that he had a slightly enlarged heart which was kind of scary but through the echo we found out that with his condition it has caused his left side of his heart to increase in size since blood that is pumped from the lungs is highly oxygenated anyways but with his heart not pumping right he is getting to much oxygen rich blood in the left side of he heart causing it to increase in size to accommodate all the extra blood. This condition is totally treatable with surgery called a heart cath, they will follow his major pathways from around his hips up into his heart and close off the hole so his blood will pump normally. This condition is fairly common and the cardiologist told us that everything will be taken care of in one day, consultation, surgery, and discharge. He will have that done on December 14th.
As for his head we are still unclear on what the final diagnosis is because we have to go back for an outpatient MRI of his brain and spinal cord, the neurosurgeon wants his head circumferences to make sure his brain isn't growing too rapidly, and ours as well to make sure we don't have larger heads.
So on Monday I am going to call his doctor so we can get this appointment scheduled to find out what is going on with bubba's head. The best news of all is that all the doctors said he is completely normal just based on the way that he is acting!
Please keep our little man in your prayers, he is a tough but still so little! We know that God will protect him but the power of prayer is the most amazing thing ever!
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